Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-07
e SKINTBUS UNUM.
A Man Who Wears $50 Pieces OF Othsl
Mems Skin.

"A IAAA VINO wears lou fIeCSS OT OIGST
Mems Skin,
A curious case of skin grating is re
ported in the San Francisco Examiner:
On May Is last Peter Mcintyre, who
possessed local reputation as sprinter,
was severely burned In fire at Central
Park. The burns on his feet healed rep
idly enough, but the flesh on his shout
deTs and arms was so scorched that the
ordinary process Of nature was INSULT
cient to restore ii TO it's former condition.
graft skin taken from other people OF the
expOsedis and thus hasten the cure.
Six weeks ag0 the operation was begun,
and since then over $50 pieces Of skin
have been fastened on raw parts.
1t will be several weeks before
the last graft shall have been at
tsched and the bsudages removed
All the skin WAS taken from the friends oil
Mcintyre, who willingly contributed the
required portions Of their cuticie. Each
graft was & small circular piece about an
eighth Of an inch in diameter. II was
{ zen from the srm. Each subject rolled
up his sleeve in McIntyre's room, and the
surgeon raised the skin with a foe pair
of f0rcepts. Then, with circular scis-
sors, he clipped the skin Off, leaving e
round red mark on the arm, and immedi-
sicily placed the graft on McIntyre's
wound. These gratis have been taken
from about forty men. Usually four
we're supplied by each, but some Of the
sick mans friends have more than that
number OF pink marks on their left arms.
The gratis were planted about an inch
apart, as each little piece grows about
that distance over the flesh and Unites
with the other skin that it meets. 1t is
transferred Immediately from one body
70 another, IS the tissue must be imbue6
with vitality when placed on the rsw
flesh, and it would lose all life in z short
while. The foreign character Of the
skin may be detected after the healing
process IS over, IS it does not charge its
particular hue, sni is also devoid OF
hair and sweat glands. It's advantage is
great, inasmuch as when such burns
cicatrize the muscles are drawn
up, and not only is move
ment restrained, but defoTmity
follows. The grated skin is elastic and
obvistes al such unpleasant results.
Mcintyre looks anything but al athlete
now. He has been sick man since the
fire, and bGs fallen sway very much.
During the past three days, he said yes
terdey, ne had eaten nothing. The Gale
dnDisn Club will give him q benefit on
Thursday evening.
Instances of grating of many pieces Of
ekin, as in this case, have not been CON-
mon here. The process itself is COM
paratively new, having been discovered
in 1859 by Riverden, Partisan surgeon
He noticed little isiats OF skin growing
on raw surfaces, found that they pro-
ceeded from little germs Of skin that had
not been destroyed, sad concluded that
transplanted skin would thrive in the
same manner. Il had previously been
supposed that it would take covering of
cuticle as large as the wound or sore it.
self TO make successful jgrSfting, and
such large areas of skin could not be OBJ
tanned. Since then the various kinds of
skin-the tissue of chickens, frogs, young
pigs and other administrative been ex-
perimented with, but for successful
human skin has been found
necessary.